Sat. 9th Sept – FA Vase – Preliminary Round Cove 0 Westbury United 3

WESTBURY and District Cricket Club entertained Rockhampton Cricket Club on 2nd September, in their final West of England Premier League fixture for the season.

Westbury made the 150-mile round trip to Cove FC in Farnborough and put in a confident performance to win 3-0 and progress to the 2nd Preliminary round of the FA Vase and line up a match against Wessex League Div one leaders Christchurch FC.

Westbury continued where they left off on Wednesday 6th September and looked dominant from the first whistle.

On 14 minutes Liam Milburn passed to Ricky Hulbert who’s cross was blocked and went out for a corner, up came to two big centre halves, the corner was delivered and headered on target by Jones but the Cove defender managed to clear it off the line.

The deadlock was broken on 22 minutes, Ricky Hulbert held the ball up well on the edge of the Cove area before passing to his strike partner Robinson, Robinson’s touch took him towards goal, he barged his way through three defenders and powered a shot past their keeper to make it 1-0.

The second half started quietly until the 55th minute when Jamie Jordan found some space on the right to deliver a cross for Robison to meet with a diving header to double his and Westbury’s goal tally for the afternoon.

A burst down the left by full back Leon Greenland committed the Cove right back he had no option but to go to ground and try to win the ball as Greenland blasted past him, he thought he had won the ball but the referee and assistant referee both agreed that it was a penalty to Westbury. Mark Robinson stepped up and smashed it on target, unfortunately the keeper dived the right way and managed to save the ball and keep the score at 2-0.

Just before the 70 minute mark Jordan took a corner that was swung in towards the far post, Dan Price got up and beat the back peddling goalkeeper to the ball, his header clattered off the bar and went clear with both him and the goal keeper ending up in the net. A few minutes of injury time were added whilst they received treatment, Price had caught his studs in the net and almost snapped his foot off.

Robinson turned from goal scorer to provider for the third, he found himself out wide right and delivered a ball in behind the Cove defence for Jordan to charge in from the left and finish with a smart half volley.

The score could have been more, but Westbury were happy with the three goals and clean sheet and progression in the cup.

Star Man-Jake Hiscocks